Jackson plans for Hubble Creek drainage

Too often we wait until a small problem becomes a big one until we deal with it. Not so with Hubble Creek in Jackson, whose leaders for years have been smartly addressing such pressing problems as flooding, erosion, decreased fish population and water quality in the creek's drainage area.

In 1997, a planning committee was formed, made up of nine community leaders who are familiar with Hubble Creek. They took on the task of identifying needs and solutions for the watershed.

The committee quickly recognized that the culprit was mainly that there was too much water getting into the Jackson creeks -- including Williams, Goose, Foster and Randol creeks -- too quickly.

Also, Jackson's continuing growth spurt has contributed to the problem. As more subdivisions go up, so do more streets, more rooftops and more parking lots. That leaves less absorbent ground to soak up rainwater, which then quickly finds its way into the flowing creeks.

The committee also knew it would take effort from individual home and land owners, as well as governmental groups, to stem the tide. That has happened and worked amazingly well.

Backed by six different governmental groups, the committee came up with a plan to improve the creek that would cost $4.1 million from a mix of local, state and federal money.

For example, the National Resource Conservation Service has overseen two major projects since the committee was organized. The NRCS works with local farmers, who must match 25 percent of the cost of each project, and gives them the tools to limit erosion and runoff, build ponds and help manage nutrients.

The NRCS also built an in-channel stabilization structure off County Road 228 on a farm to help prevent Hubble Creek from eroding all the way back to a bridge over the creek. The stabilization is being provided mainly by rocks that have been cemented in place on the creek banks and wire baskets placed in the bottom of the creek engineered to slow down the creek's energy.

Then, after realizing that poor water quality -- which also was caused by the high amount of soil in the water -- was killing off fish in Hubble Creek, the city established a storm-water ordinance forcing developers to pay a fee for impervious surfaces that don't absorb water.

The city also required developers to build detention basins for subdivisions or big businesses to hold and release water at a rate not any faster than it did before the development.

The problems haven't been washed away. But the city has continued to work toward keeping it manageable. There may eventually be a need for a detention system north of town. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking at whether a series of reservoirs might benefit the city for flood control.

It's true that the problems are still within the murky waters of Hubble Creek. But you have to wonder how much worse they would have been if the city of Jackson had done nothing when the problems first became apparent years ago.